Social media is an essential tool for associations and businesses, facilitating the instant spread of news, campaigns, and support throughout different verticals.
More importantly, these platforms help connect businesses with customers, increase brand awareness, and boost leads and sales.
But how does social media make this possible?
One of the key aspects of social media is that it provides a presence on a variety of platforms which can be used to raise awareness on everything from new members to mergers.
It is important to remember that if potential customers are not aware of the business or association, they will never become customers or members.
Social media boosts visibility and can be used to address specific sectors of audiences for targeted connections and interaction through the use of hashtags and groups.
For example, a new piece of technology used for transporting temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals would be relevant for a variety of different specialisms (pharma packaging manufacturers, track-and-trace developers, air cargo operators, Customs officials, etc), but the key messages required by these verticals may differ to pique interest – this is where targeted social media posts can be used to ensure that each selected group receives the prime information they require.
As an association, authority on a subject is pivotal to not only provide guidance for members, but to highlight expertise and entice others into joining.
Developing and running robust social media profiles with frequent updates of relevant content will build brand authority and create positive first impressions that highlight trustworthiness, knowledge, and approachability.
This can be done through tasks as simple as sharing or commenting on another post or thought piece made by a highly regarded business, to writing your own expert-led discussions surrounding pressing topics for your vertical and building the conversation from there.
Taking the initiative and making a statement can go a long way on social media.
One of the best things social media provides is easy communication with customers and peers.
Gone are the days of calling customer service lines or searching for an individual’s extension number when a simple Twitter search or LinkedIn connection can provide the same results.
Businesses wanting to capitalise on the benefits of social media should take the time to engage with comments on their pages, look to join conversations on other pages and interest groups, show support with new developments for other businesses and important individuals, and prove yourself as responsive and engaged with the concerns or questions that you could solve.
Finally, social media allows businesses and associations to show personality and that individuals are behind the screen. Think about your brand and what voice you want to go with it – how will this represent who you and your colleagues are to your target audiences?
It is the case that customers simply are not interested in reading or engaging with dry, corporate-style social media posts; they want to be a part of a conversation and to get to know the people behind the posts.
This is why platforms such as LinkedIn are a great tool for building connections as those working for the business or association can easily be linked, providing a face and a name for potential members or customers that are looking for an easy way to get in touch.
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” still rings true on social media, which is why platforms such as Instagram are great for showcasing the lighter, funnier side of work.
Fridays are also a good time to embrace that more casual ‘end of the week’ feeling with simpler, less challenging posts on topics such as team building experiences or remembering previous events.
For examples on social media posts, make sure you follow the Cool Chain Association on LinkedIn and Twitter, and follow Meantime Communications on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook for news, topics, and inspiration.
Working together to improve the temperature-sensitive supply chain to reduce food loss and waste in the perishables sector as well as benefiting the pharma community.
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to